Former Bachelorette star Jillian Harris has reportedly said that she is sending "big hugs" to recently-split Bachelor couple Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi.

The pair, who met on the 14th instalment of the romance reality show, announced that they had ended their engagement this week.

Speaking to OK, Harris - who eliminated Pavelka on her season of the programme - said: "I send big hugs to both of them and hope their hearts heal quickly, and people are easy on them. Again, to remind people who are quick to judge - they are just regular people, who really believed in love."

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She continued to say: "The truth is someone is hurting hereâ€¦ Maybe [it's] both of them, and that saddens me. Even if everyone thought they 'weren't meant to be', they wanted to be, or wanted to prove they could be.

"And it is always heartbreaking when your goals or dreams don't quite amount up to what you wanted them to be."

Pavelka - who proposed to Girardi on the season finale of the show - recently said that he was "saddened" by the split but insisted that the pair will always remain friends.